Maybe not as scary as you've heard, but certainly a serious, greatly made study of humanity with definite horror moments.

Rating: 10/10 (1 December 2003)

I LOVED this film. When I left the theater, I felt utter satisfaction and deep despair at the same time. That means the movie definitely worked.
For starters, please don't automatically label it a horror film. It isn't a slasher akin to Friday the 13th or a disturbing no-sleep fest like the Exorcist was at one time, either. What it IS is a moving human drama, very effectively capturing the despair and isolation of a world after apocalyptic disease. This is its strongest point and mood, but at the same time there are several seat-jumping moments, and there are, for lack of a better word, "monsters" that are around many corners. I don't anticipate many will walk away from 28 days later thinking "wow, I was shaking in fear the whole time!", nor do I imagine people thinking "What a body count! All that blood and guts!" Truth is, there are some moments of both, but they are frosting on a story that leaves you with more of a feeling of "Wow. Loved ones can be lost, times can be impossibly desolate, people can be impossibly cruel. I'm glad to be alive, and I'm glad I live in a better world".
The setting of the film is London, almost entirely free of human life due to a rapidly spread virus. The infected, the "monsters" of the film, are regular human beings who no longer function like regular people but instead are fast, violent, and primal, living only to eat and attack whatever they see. The virus spread wildly due to its high communicability. It transfers through blood contact, saliva, and even through the eyes. It is such that 99% of London was wiped out in 28 days, at the end of which the main character wakes up in a hospital with no idea what has happened. No one knows the answer to a more haunting question either...Is life normal outside a possibly quarantined London, or was the whole world infected?
The movie slowly lets us see what happens and slowly suggests answers to those questions. It unfolds not like a harsh killfest, but like poetry. We are with the main character, Jim, as he wakes up, having no idea where to go or where anyone is. He wanders the starkly empty streets, alone, hoping to find someone who can help,and somewhere to go. He encounters the infected, and he meets some people...All with their own view of their situation and ways of dealing with it. Some live to survive. Some live in despair. Some live with hope.
It's situations like this that are touching. Thanks in part to a wonderful score, the story gives us many moments to take in. Jim heads out to see if his parents are okay. Another man puts out a beacon of Christmas lights on his empty apartment in hopes of finding other survivors. We watch in sympathy as one person remembers a simple, pointless breakfast with the family he/she will never see again. We quietly smile in hope as someone plows their way through a dangerous roadblock through sheer determination for a better place. We close our eyes in defeat as another person who has so much hope and even more to live for still succumbs to the disease due to the most chance of situations. Moments like these- sadness, warmth, hope, despair- are rife in this film, and it is through such moments that it truly feels like a realistic account of what could honestly happen. It is a very human story, and I say that because although there are scenes of violence and death, this overcomes the boundary of "horror flick" by focusing most on the people, their plight, and the moments that matter to them.
The acting is thoroughly good as well, with everyone asking realistic questions and doing things that appeal to us in some way or another. There are some characters near the end for example who have their own idea of survival and what it takes, and even though their ideas are horrible we can still understand why they have them.
My only gripe with the film is minor. I enjoyed it all the way, and was satisfied by the last few frames. But the actual climactic event, which takes place in a mansion, was a little frenzied. I don't mind violence or anything, and there are sudden scenes in the rest of the film where things get wild, but the final major event is very harsh and sustained. It makes sense, it's just not as reserved as most of the rest of the film so be forewarned.
In all, I found this movie entirely good. Don't expect the bloodiest or scariest movie ever, but be content with some of both inside a much more mature and emotional film, and you should be happy. I definitely was, and found it one of the most thought-provoking and moving dramas, or horror films, in a long time.